Tuesday 12 June 2012

Another Textile Jaunt



Well, perhaps not strictly a 'textile' jaunt, as no actual cloth was involved. However, there is a link - bear with me!

One of the great things I've found since starting to blog, is the connection I've made with other bloggers. Often it's just a case of regular reciprocal commenting on each other's blogs, which may be merely a sentence or two, or a more robust joining in the debate. Sometimes you find you really click with someone; you discover you have things in common beyond fabric, and 'off-blog' communications happen. Now, I'm not suggesting that because someone comments on your blog they become your 'next new-best-friend', however it is a great way to make that initial conatct with someone with whom you have interests in common.

One such blogger is Cathy at Potter Jotter. She and I have been chatting for a while now 'off-blog' and I asked if we could meet up in order for me to write up a Textile Jaunt about her. The (fairly tenuous) textile connection is that Cathy adds patchwork decoration to many of her pottery pieces. I had already checked out her website and had my eye on her stem vases.

Yesterday I cheered myself up immensley despite the pouring rain by driving across county to Cathy's home and feasted my eyes on her pots. It was a very relaxed meeting, we hit it off from the start (is it becos we is Northerners??) .

                                           Cathy emptying her kiln in the garage

We started by inspecting the kiln, which looked like a large spin dryer to me - Cathy is desperate for a larger one as her business is rapidly outgrowing this one.Then we came back into the 'pottery' which is actually the ex-study; Cathy does not 'throw' her pots, but creates them by the 'slab' method, hence she has no need of a wheel and buckets of damp clay , she can keep the whole process at a small domestic level. As she says, she has a life! As well as selling direct to the public via her website, Cathy has contracts with several National Trust shops and Anglesey Abbey, and several outlets in Norwich. I was able to photograph some items which were waiting collection.

          I particularly loved this large plaque with its quote from The Ancient Mariner



         I love this so much here are some close ups. Those polished pebbles are actually clay!

A group of ladies in the village have initiated a Sunflower Project and asked Cathy whether she could come up with sunflower related items. Of course she could.




Oh, and talking of sunflowers, Cathy was able to give me some really easy solutions to getting the image for my own Sunshine Award onto my blog - result, eh?



                               A few of Cathy's dishes incorporating patchwork blocks

                           A special commission - it's ok, the recipient doesn't read my blog!

                                                    My favourites, the stem vases


My lack of photographic expertise lets me down here somewhat, but I hope these shots give you an idea of Cathy's work. I love it! Paradoxically, Cathy admits she knows next to nothing about patchwork and quilting, though she dreams of one day having time to sit down and stitch one for herself. Wait til retirement, Cathy, bags of time then - NOT!

The time sped past but eventually I had to leave, in order to get home in time for Mollie practice....see what I mean about time, and not having any! However I 'll be back next month in order to pick up a couple of small packages......I'll tell you all about it then. Thanks so much for having me over, Cathy, great to actually meet you, and pleased we both 'passed the test'! Hope you've all enjoyed this Jaunt, see you next time.






24 comments:

  1. Jealous! Might have to join you when you pick up the packages...
    See you soon
    Sue xx

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    1. Hi Sue -Cathy would be very pleased to see you! I see from facebook you had a good time away...even had some sunshine I believe.......

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  2. What a lovely jaunt. I love Cathys work as well, It's hard to believe she doesn't sew as well.......
    Sue Xxx

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    1. It's one of the things she's saving for retirement1 I know, I assume everyone sews, these days, though I don't know why I should.

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  3. Great post, Lynne! I`m inlove...Cathy`s pottery is SOOOO BEAUTIFUL! Oooh boy I need one :o)
    kisses
    Natasha

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    1. Check out her website, Natasha.. there's a lot more there.

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  4. Fab post Lynne! I follow Cathys blog - she does make some beautiful things!
    Victoria xx

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    1. Hi Victoria, yes, she certainly does. I just love the glazes she uses, beautiful shades.

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  5. Hey Lynne, brilliant post, I was the lucky winner of Cathys giveaways and will be posting about that soon! I love her work, she is very talented- I bet we could get a quilt out of her yet!
    Heather x

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    1. Heather, we could kidnap here and force her to sew......but there wouldn't be much love in her stitches, would there? I'm sure she'll give in to the impuse sooner or later. Lucky you having one of the hearts. In a few weeks I will be posting about the goodies she is making for me - for now they are a bit secret.........

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  6. A very talented lady indeed! My only exploits into the potting world involved making a hedgehog whilst at school! When it came out of the kiln the spikes looked like round balls and everyone joked that my hedgehog had had a perm!!!
    June

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  7. Ha! I love it! And that would be me, too, I just know it. I really did love the glazes; I think why I am so attracted to Cathy's work is because I love applique and there is definitely an applique-ey feel to her work.

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  8. What abeautiful post; and so was the previous one!
    Love to read about those things and with the pictures it's even better!
    Love, Mirjam.

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  9. Hi Mirjam, lovely to hear from you again, and thanks for your lovely comments. I hope I'm hitting the right spot with my photos, I don't take particularly good ones,but just 'snap' the sort of thing I like looking at my self.
    Lx.

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  10. Oh how lovely. I'm a big fan of Cathy's patchwork pieces and read her blog. Wonderful to have this further insight into her world, thank you Lynne :D

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  11. You're welcome!This is precisely what I'd hoped to be doing on the blog every now and then, I think it's great to be able to introduce people to the people and things you enjoy. Lx.

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  12. Lovely to see more of Cathy's ceramics I love her stuff. I really like the beach huts.
    Gillx

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  13. I can't make my mind up which of the 'applique' type images I lke best - I loved the pile of books, but then the boats with the surf underneath...and the beach huts of course...spoilt for choice, really!

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  14. Thanks for popping by and leaving a comment the other day :) I hope you enjoy the needle book making as much as I did. Clever Amy!

    Sandra x

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  15. It's just such a lovely size and shape, isn't it? A perfect little packet. Now I won't be having time for a while as my family are coming to stay from New Zealand (I'm SO excited!) so everything will be on the back burner. But it is definitely on the to-do list!

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  16. Crikey! Do you want to be my P.R. manager? I think all your photos turned out really well, except the one with me in it! Seriously, thanks for the kind words and great to meet you the other day - am having the most fun working on your commissions - hope you will like! See you soon. xCathy

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  17. You're welcome, Cathy. Lots of interest from Blogland too, isn't there? Looking forward to seeing my goodies!
    Lx.

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  18. What a wonderful time you must have had! I love Cathy's work - the vases are particularly beautiful. Can't wait to see what you had commissioned xxx

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  19. You won't have to wait for too long. I'll be picking up one or two little items in a few weeks! And yes, I love the vases.

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